Doppelgängers
by lslines
Summary: Meeting yourself is always weird. / Crossover with CCS, no spoilers for either.


_Wrote this several... well, many months ago for livejournal user __researchotaku for a request s/he place on the community fic(underscore)on(underscore)demand._

_**Edit:** Just to clarify: no. I am not writing more. This is all there is and if you really want more, I'm sorry but you'll have to imagine it yourself. I also know the idea is not completely original, but it is what the recipient requested._

* * *

When Syaoran wakes, he is lying on his back in the grass. The sun is a bright ball of whiteness above him, cicadas are singing, and the air has the definitive taste of a summer afternoon. It's soothing, almost, and he raises a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. He sits up a split second later, alert and on guard with his senses running into overdrive. Looking around cautiously he groans. "Where are we?" It takes the moment of silence, aside from the cicada song, for it to hit home. He's alone.

"I suppose that makes it where am I, then. But, they can't be too far away..." He mutters, getting carefully to his feet. The grass is soft beneath his hand as he pushes himself up, and he takes in his surroundings again. He is standing in a park. A short fence runs the perimeter of the grass, beyond it a path and a road, and inside the fence another of path ribbons through the grass, racing away over the curves of the landscape until it vanishes into a handful of trees. He frowns, rubbing at his forehead. "I hope the Princess is alright!"

_What if she isn't?_ The thought intrudes. _What if she got separated from everyone, and she's lost and alone?_ He squashes the panic down and his frown deepens.

_No,_ he reminds himself, _Sakura will be fine. She can handle herself..._ Biting his lip, he decides that maybe he should hurry and find her anyway, just to be safe.

"Syaoran?" He turns sharply at his name, broken from his thoughts. On the path beyond the fence is a blond boy wearing glasses and a vague smile, sitting astride a bicycle. He has an uncanny resemblance to the High Priest, but after traveling across so many worlds, he is used to seeing familiar faces. Still, the shock is a little jarring.

Syaoran tilts his head, wary. Another thing learned after so many worlds; you shouldn't trust blindly. That was what the time-space witch, Yuuko, said; '_Just because that person is nice to you on one world, does not mean that you will find an ally on the next.'_ Besides, Kurogane would be displeased enough already, if he were ever to discover the lax in his guard after waking in a place he knew nothing of. "That's my name," He ventures. "Do I know you?"

The boy who is not the High Priest frowns. Un-mounting the bike, he rests it against the fence before swinging himself over it and walking towards Syaoran. Syaoran takes up a defensive position and the boy stops. "Syaoran are you okay?" Syaoran stares at him, hard, until he sighs and smiles again. "Well, I suppose that's a no. But... You are Syaoran, aren't you?"

"Yes. Who are you?"

"Ah." Syaoran is still staring, so the blond extends a hand. Syaoran looks at it suspiciously, but the smile he is being faced with is bright. "My name is Yukito."

After a moment's hesitation, Syaoran drops his stance and shakes the offered hand. So the High Priest and the not High Priest have the same name as well. It occurs to him that this really shouldn't surprise him. After all, names had been pretty consistent with faces in every world. He pushes the thought to the side. "Nice to meet you," he says politely, and Yukito bites his lip.

"How about we take you back to Sakura's house, and see if we can't figure out what's going on, hmm?" Yukito drops his hand and turns towards the bike again, glancing over his shoulder to be sure Syaoran is following. He is.

"You know Princess Sakura?"

Yukito frowns a little, clambering over the fence once more and swinging himself onto the bike. "I know Sakura, yes..."

Syaoran nods once as he too masters the fence, dropping neatly the few inches to the path below. "Ah. Never mind, then."

"You can ride behind me, if you like." Yukito offers, and Syaoran carefully pulls himself up, holding nervously onto Yukito's shoulders.

As Yukito swings the bike around the corner and over the bridge, Syaoran asks him, "What do you call this thing we're riding?"

"A bike. A bicycle?" He laughs. "Surely you know what a bicycle is?"

"Yes." He can feel Syaoran nodding. "But it never hurts to ask." He pauses a moment, before adding, "Though I have never seen one with a basket before."

Yukito thinks it best to leave it at that.

/ / / / /

Syaoran sits at a kitchen table, holding a warm and half empty mug of chocolate. He's not thirsty, just worried, but he took a few mouthfuls to be polite and then drank some more when it didn't kill him. It was rather tasty, he conceded. Yukito is having a low conversation in the hallway just outside the door, with a man who is certainly not King Touya, but who looks and sounds and acts just like him. Which is interesting, because Yukito does not act quite like High Priest Yukito. He's... softer. Less in charge. But still somehow the same.

Thinking about these things makes him less worried about the others, and helps block out the urge to eavesdrop on the conversation. He overhears parts of it anyway. Like the words 'amnesia', and the exclamations of 'but that can't be possible.' After a few more minutes of silent hard thought and attempted not-eavesdropping, Touya sticks his head into the kitchen with Yukito peering carefully around him.

"Brat," He starts, and Syaoran doesn't know whether to bristle indignantly or laugh, because that just goes to show he really is _just_ like King Touya. "Where were you half an hour ago?"

Syaoran doesn't know what to say. 'In a vacuum, traveling between universes via the mouth of a rabbit-like thing' probably wouldn't work. Nor would, 'In another world.' He settles for, "Asleep in the park," adding an 'I think' to himself.

Touya frowns. "Then where is Sakura?"

Syaoran shrugs. "I don't know. I haven't seen her." His mouth tightens at the corners. "I wish I knew."

"Just one more thing: what is my father's name?"

Yukito bites his lip again. "Touya, don't you think—"

"I don't know." Syaoran says simply.

"I thought so." He looks hard at Syaoran, and Syaoran stares back. After a short while, Touya's eyes soften slightly, and he steps into the kitchen properly, taking the seat opposite Syaoran. "I think maybe it's time for an explanation? From the beginning. Tell me everything."

Syaroan looks at him again, but there's something in the older man's eyes that say: _I'm not kidding._ _Everything. I swear I won't laugh, but if you don't tell me, I'll hurt you._ With a sigh, he drinks down the last of his not-so-hot chocolate and takes a deep breath.

"My name is Syaoran, and I come from another world, from a country called Clow..."

/ / / / /

It's just beginning to get dark when Syaoran finishes relaying his story to Touya, trying to remember every little detail. Yukito has fallen asleep, his head pillowed on his arms, and Touya is staring at Syaoran with a lopsided smile, a little disbelief, and a lot of understanding. There is a large plate of chocolate chip cookies sitting between them. "The soul is still the same…A thousand worlds away and the two of you still…" Syaoran looks at him strangely as he murmurs to himself, so he runs a hand over his face and sighs. "A place where I'm king, huh?"

They both turn slightly towards the kitchen door as a cacophony of voices approach the front step. There's a muffled laugh, and the front door swings open, accompanied by the sound of a group of people piling into a small amount of space in a small amount of time, and all struggling to get their shoes off at once.

Touya sighs again, and a second later Syaoran comes around the door looking worried. He catches sight of the other Syaoran, and they blink at each other. "Um." He says, scowling dreadfully with a stain of pink on his cheeks. "Hello?"

Before Syaoran can return the greeting or the sentiment of confusion behind it, Tomoyo wanders in, glowing with excitement and clutching a camcorder. The sight of the two Syaorans makes her gasp in delight, swinging the barrel of the camera from one to another. "Oh! How wonderful! Not only are there now two Sakura's, but two Syaoran's! My, how perfect! Now they can have one each!"

And as she said, two grinning Sakura's were next to round the doorway. The one on the left lit up as her eyes fell on Syaoran, seated at the table, and launches herself at him, flinging her arms around his neck. Both the other Sakura and the other Syaoran blush as she does so, averting their gazes. "Oh! Thank goodness we found you!" She pulls back, expression serious, looking him over carefully. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Syaoran smiles fondly. "No Princess. I'm fine."

Sakura glares at him for a few seconds, before smiling back. "Good."

"Ooh, biscuits! May I?" Syaoran looks up, and sure enough, there were Fai and Kurogane standing behind Touya. Fai grinning as he steals a cookie from the plate, and Kurogane looking around warily and grinding his teeth, Mokona sitting on his head. Taking a bite out of the sweet and offering one to Mokona, Fai looks innocently at Kurogane. "Would Kuro-pipi like one?"

"No! And I told you to stop calling me that!" He snapps, jabbing a finger threateningly at Fai's face, who smiles benignly and shrugs. From its perch on top of Kurogane's head, Mokona sing songs.

"Kuro-pipi does not want a cookie! But they are good cookies, right, Fai?"

"They are, Mokona, they are! Is Kuro-tan sure he doesn't want one?"

"Right that's it!" Fai darts away as Kurogane tries to hit him. Mokona yells encouragement, words lost in the steadily increasing rukus of the kicthen, and Kurogane turns on him as well.

Syaoran sighs.

/ / / / /

Yukito blinks as he wakes up. The kitchen is full of people. A tall blond man is being chased by an angry man in black, and there appear to be two Sakura's and two Syaoran's. The Sakura's are having a deeply involved conversation, while the two Syaoran's are carefully avoiding looking at each other, the Sakura's, or anything else besides their feet. Tomoyo is laughing happily, swinging her camera excitedly as she tries to capture as much of the room as she can. There's a white thing talking to her, perched on her shoulder. It looks similar to a rabbit, or maybe a pork bun, or maybe both. Yukito blinks again. "Eh?"

Touya touches his arm gently from his seat across the table, and Yukito looks at him in concern. "Touya? What's going on?"

"I really don't know," He ground out, clenching his eyes shut in aggravation. "But the time-space witch has a lot to answer for."

Yukito blinks again. "Eh?"

Touya sighs. "Don't worry about it. But, if you could help me stop those two from destroying my kitchen?"

"Sure."

"And… Oh. Have a cookie."

* * *

_Reviews always appreciated._


End file.
